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In 2002, Congress gave former President George W. Bush the authority to invade Iraq. That was nearly 20 years ago, but the same Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) remains in place today.
That’s also true for the 2001 AUMF which authorized U.S. military operations following the 9/11 attacks and remains the foundation for operations in the Middle East and elsewhere, along with a long-obsolete AUMF from 1991 related to Iraq and even an unused 1957 AUMF left over from the Eisenhower administration that is still on the books.
Despite the occasional sign of Congress coming out of hibernation to reassert its war powers, the legislative branch has continued to cede too much ground to the executive in what should be a fairly cut-and-dried division of labor. Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress has the sole power to declare war.
That hasn’t stopped presidents from both parties from pushing the limits of existing AUMFs, and it hasn’t compelled Congress to step up and address these outdated and open-ended force authorizations.
There have been repeated attempts in Congress, particularly through the defense policy bill passed each year, to wrestle back this constitutional authority. It’s time for Congress to finally pin this one down.
Lawmakers did pass a bipartisan resolution to rein in former President Donald Trump’s (and any president’s) ability to engage in hostilities against Iran, but failed to override Trump’s veto. Encouragingly, all members of Maine’s congressional delegation supported this attempt at partially rebalancing congressional power to declare war and the president’s responsibility to protect the country.
“Congress must take back its constitutional war powers authority to prevent an unauthorized conflict with Iran,” Rep. Chellie Pingree said at the time.
“This is a power that Congress has largely abdicated over the past 70 years,” said Sen. Angus King.
“It is important to reassert the legislative branch’s war powers authorities regardless of who occupies the White House,” said Sen. Susan Collins, one of only eight Senate Republicans to support last year’s resolution.
Earlier this month, Rep. Jared Golden and a bipartisan group of colleagues in the House introduced a bill that would repeal the 1957, 1991 and 2002 AUMFs. This would be a good start.
“Congress has sole constitutional authority to declare war, but for decades the House and Senate have been asleep at the wheel as they cede this responsibility to the presidency,” Golden said in a recent statement. “Congress after Congress has been content to sit back while presidents of both parties send young Americans into battle without an honest discussion or accountability to the public. Enough is enough.”
There continues to be bipartisan work on this in the Senate, where Democrat Tim Kaine of Virginia and Republican Todd Young of Indiana have a similar proposal that would end the 1991 and 2002 AUMFs. Young, like Golden, served in the Marines.
It is significant that many of the members leading the way in this bipartisan push to re-balance decisions about authorizing military action have experienced the on-the-ground realities of those decisions firsthand. Golden and the three other members who introduced the House bill all served in a national security role before joining Congress. Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, the lead cosponsor, also served in the Marines and was deployed twice to Iraq.
“Congress has abdicated its Article 1 authority for too long. By taking these outdated authorizations off the books, we can start to reclaim our constitutional war powers,” Gallagher said in a recent statement. “The 1957, 1991, and 2002 AUMFs are no longer relevant and their repeal would not impact ongoing operations. War powers are this institution’s most important constitutional responsibility, and it’s critical we take this small but significant step forward to reassert Congressional authority.”
Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California has for years worked to address these outdated AUMFs. Her bill to repeal the 2002 authorization is slated for a committee markup on Thursday. Hopefully that discussion will be expanded to include the 1991 and 1957 measures.
The fact that President Joe Biden has signaled his support for AUMF reform is significant, but this is a debate Congress needs to have regardless of the message from the White House.
“The bipartisan bill we’re introducing today is a step towards reclaiming some of Congress’ power over the use of military force and is an opening salvo to prevent the forever wars that have come to characterize the past two decades,” Golden also said.
It is not asking too much for Congress to finally reclaim its own constitutional power, and to take responsibility for tough decisions about authorizing military force and putting American servicemembers in harm’s way.
